An ancient Mayan skull prophesized to protect humanity from the coming apocalypse was accidentally dropped on the ground in a lab in Germany, researchers say.

In the course of a laboratory photograph shoot in Glauchau, Saxony, the volcanic rock skull named Quauthemoc was somehow dropped, chipping a portion of its chin. No one is sure if somebody dropped it or if it fell on its own, The Regional reported.

“It was almost certainly place down someplace a bit wobbly,” a witness told Bild newspaper. “Abruptly it crashed to the floor. A big piece broke off the chin. It is really tragic.”

Even so, the skull’s owner, amateur historian Thomas Ritter, does not seem to be to believe the researchers will be accountable for the end of days.

“It was a bit of a shock at first, but then I identified the damage was relatively marginal, so I was rather relieved,” Ritter told The Local. “I do not think it really is a poor omen.”

Mayan legend says Quauthemoc is amongst the 13 magical skulls with the power to aid humanity survive the apocalypse believed to be imminent — December 21, 2012, to be precise — on the last day of the Mayan calendar.

Ritter will be in Mexico that day, meeting with the owners of the other 12 skulls at an ancient Mayan site.

“The prophecy says the skulls will reveal a secret knowledge to humanity on that day,” he mentioned. “But I can’t say much more than that. The skulls may well start off speaking or some thing, but I have no idea.”

Ritter says Nazis stole the skull from a monastery somewhere in southern India or Tibet between 1937 and 1939. After the war was over, it was identified in the belongings of Nazi Interior Minister and Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler, who was identified for collecting ancient pagan and black magic artifacts.

A man who noticed Himmler arrested took the skull, and the man’s grandson presented it to Ritter in 2009 in Wiltshire, England. He told Ritter Quauthemoc had “chosen to carry on its journey” with him.

According to legend, the Mayan skull, which was stolen from Tibet by the Nazis and imbued for believers with magical powers to enable mankind to survive an apocalypse, fell and chipped during a photo shoot. For some, this is a catastrophe that foretells the end of the world, but others advise us to keep calm and carry on.